Censorship, Multiculturalism, and Monday

I thought all went well this weekend until this morning at the bus stop I remembered I had not looked at the mail regarding the doctor. All I wanted to was get done at work and get home. I did, getting home around 3 pm. I still have not looked a the mail.  I did get BSU pasword fixed before I walked down to McClure's for a Diet Coke. That was close on to 4 pm. The rest of the night went like this:

I looked at The Walrus' Arts & Culture page.

Read two articles on censorship: Literary Activism's California To Ban Book Bans by School Boards and Against Censorship: Books Are Civilization from Thornfield Hall Blog.

This is from the former, and makes me ask Why not Indiana?

Book banning happens in every state, and California has now taken a major step forward in curtailing the rise in censorship. Assembly Bill 1078, proposed by Moreno Valley Assemblyman Corey Johnson, passed through the Senate last Thursday and is headed to Governor Newsom's desk for signature. The bill would prohibit school boards from censoring or banning books, curriculum, or instructional materials.

"We're taking a firm stand against book banning in California's schools, ensuring that our students have access to a broad range of educational materials that accurately represent the rich cultural and racial diversity of our society," said Johnson in a statement following the bill's passage in both chambers.

I thoroughly agree with the idea contained in Thornfield Hall's headline. Censors are barbarians bent on destroying the culture that is the real purpose of civilization. 

How did our society regress so quickly ?  It is a political issue. It is pandering to a tiny right-wing minority. It began in our blue state when it turned seeing-red in 2016. The state government has regressed so far that it recently legislated banning books in the schools. At this point I should draw a cartoon depicting the state legislators with their protegees, Moms for Liberty, gleefully romping and flicking lighters as they prepare a bonfire of books.  The caption would have to be:  “Vote for ignorance!”

The banning of issue-oriented Y.A. books in the schools does not particularly concern me.  That’s because the school libraries should invest in better-written, more challenging, mature books anyway.  What actually concerns me is the banning of classics.  Here’s what the red states are banning these days:  Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, James Joyce’s Ulysses, Art Spiegleman’s Maus, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Orwell’s 1984, and (déjà vu) Judy Blume’s Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret. What’s the next target? It is likely to be public libraries.

There is more in the original post, I suggest read it and think. 

As for Indiana, this is our analog to the United States Constitution freedom of speech, Article I, Section 9:

No law shall be passed, restraining the free interchange of thought and opinion, or restricting the right to speak, write, or print, freely, on any subject whatever: but for the abuse of that right, every person shall be responsible.

Where in those words is there any power given to any part of Indiana government to ban books? I see every word supporting a law like California's.

Which leads me to Chris Duarte's Is Multiculturalism a Solution to Phyletism? from Public Orthodoxy, and this passage:

Three features are common to most forms of multicultural political thinking, which are:

1. Rejection of the idea that the State belongs to a single ethno-cultural group
2. Rejection of assimilationist policies and exclusionary practices
3. Acknowledgment of historic injustices that have been perpetrated against ethno-cultural minorities and an attempt to prevent such injustices in the future.^[2]

Are we really so spineless a people that we must reject these ideas in a secular, political way? 

I submitted "Theresa Pressley Attends Michael Devlin’s Viewing" to Mulberry Literary. "Their Bright Future" went to The Woodward Review (and then I diddled, again, with the last sentence!), to American Short Fiction (with the diddling). Clockhouse received "The Revenger's Tale" and an artist's statement (that should scare the kiddies at Goddard College!).

I called KH and talked too long to him. From what he told me I can put "Between The Dead and the Dying" out to the journals.

So, is China a threat? Read China is a poor and failing nation from Michael Hicks.

Well, I showered and have finished up this post at 9:53 pm.

No more parties down the street, no more Jeff Beck.

Going for a ride:

And one from the late Jimmy Buffett:

And with that I call it a night.

Nothing quite remains the same - so laugh.

sch